Blair was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, spinning the basketball on one finger. He was dressed and ready to go. "What takes them so long to fill out a couple of forms. I want to get out of here. I'm starving, but there was no way I was eating the stuff they tried to feed me for breakfast."
"She should be here any minute now, Chief," Jim answered from the window. "I can hear her coming down the hallway with the wheelchair."
"It's really cool that the kids gave me the game ball. It's a great honor. I'm just sorry I missed that last game."
Jim watched as Blair continued to spin the ball, switching hands. "Quit playing with the ball. It's supposed to be displayed, not played with," Jim ordered, then with a smile added, "The kids really liked having you as their coach. You and Orvelle did a great job with them."
"Yeah, I was never able to play on teams as a kid. Naomi moved us around too much, so I kinda missed out on all the fun of playing team sports."
As Jim turned from the window, he saw that Blair was staring down at the ball in his hands, his expression a little sad. "You're going to miss them now that the season's over, aren't you?"
"What do you mean? Over? It's not over. We qualified for the State Tournament in Seattle, so it's not over yet. Jim, why are you looking at me like that? Are you OK?"
Jim was looking very pale. The thought of Blair, Orvelle and ten fourteen-year-old boys, turned loose on the unsuspecting City of Seattle was too horrifying to contemplate. Oh well, thought Jim, at least Seattle isn't the most dangerous city in America. Right?
Stay tuned next week when the members of Major Crime get tagged for their turn as the PD's 'Martyrs for Charity' at the annual 'Cascade for Charity Night' in "Talent Show" an all new The Sentinel.
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